WHAT ARE?

THEY ARE ALL THE SAME?

Although very similar usage in the kitchen is not identical, each of them has unique properties that are worth knowing.

I ‘also different ways in which they are obtained and this can also help us make a conscious choice, I have a fondness for those who do not use chemicals to extract the starchy part: arrowroot, potato starch, tapioca, kuzu. Also the starches of cereals were once obtained by dehydrating the amidated water that was obtained by baking them, unfortunately today in most of the cases is obtained by separating the amidated part of the cereals with chemical procedures.

HOW DO YOU USE?

Starches are used as thickeners, in baked goods, but also for panare, stir the risotto (rice starch), for goma dofu(kuzu) ….

If we want to use them as thickenersthe procedure is:

dissolve the starch in a small part of liquid at room temperature, the choice of the liquid is carried out in function of the type of preparation (water, juice, broth etc. ..)

later you can combine the warm liquid, stirring with a whisk to avoid lumps

all of which should reach the gelation temperature of starch that inflating them and dissolving them does thicken the liquid to which were added (the temperature varies between 65 °C to 72 °C depending on the starch selected).

In bakery products help to trap air, creating soft dough must be mixed with other flours, it is advisable not to exceed the rate of 20% on the weight of flour seen their high glycemic index.

When using the starches to give softness to the mixtures prefer to use them in the tang zhong or water roux that helps me also to reduce or replace eggs and fat and allows me to use an even lower percentage of starch on the weight of flour.

In the pages dedicated to each starch you found all their uses in the kitchen.